Hello, my name is Andreea – Ioana Bardas, I am a third year Communication Science student, just wrapping up my Bachelor with the finalization of my internship. As part of my Bachelor, it was mandatory to take a semester to do an internship that suits the skills acquired during the studies. Studying Communication Science made it easy for me in terms of options, as most companies of nowadays are looking for people in Marketing, Communication, Social Media. However, PR caught my attention, as it was something briefly touched upon in my Bachelor, and also in my Minor of Marketing and Managing Strategies.
Baby is a PR company based in Amsterdam, with an impressive list of clients, such as New Amsterdam Surf Association, Zalando, Dr. Martens, Filling Pieces, G-Star Raw.
Although I was an intern, I was fastly thrown into the dynamic world of fashion PR, full of events, brainstorming sessions, presentation decks after presentation decks – all of these needing the team to possess a fast-thinking problem solving approach, while also being creative. I was surprised about the Baby team’s ability to come up with disruptive PR strategies for their clients, while also being able to maintain the brand’s individual identity and vision.
One of the highlights of my internship was our trip to Berlin, for the H&M x Mugler collection launch event. Baby was in charge of the guest list for the event, and to make sure that the event ran smoothly. We checked in every guest, gave them bracelets and instructed them inside, where they found their gift bags. This was my first work trip, and I was very interested in the balance that we found between work and fun, as although we had a lot of details to take care of, half-way through the event we also started to go inside and network with German stakeholders and enjoyed the overall party.
I have learned a lot through this internship. Of course, from the field of fashion PR; I now have a considerably better grasp on the field than before, and have gathered insights about the Dutch fashion scene. Moreover, I have developed some graphic design skills that allowed me to create visually stimulating media for editors. But besides that, I have also gained a lot of interpersonal communication skills, by networking and also, just by being in a professional setting with people I aspire to be like.
I must admit, at the beginning of this semester I was rather intimidated about the idea of an internship. With this being my first office job, it is understandable that I had my doubts regarding the environment I will be in, but also about my performance. For anyone who is about to start their internship soon, I strongly believe the most important thing you need to bring to the table is energy. Be positive, be on time, and be eager to learn!